Re: cleaning heating ducts

[Guest guest]

Amy,

Some questions to ask the duct cleaners:

Do they use a truck or a portable vacuum with a HEPA filter? If a

portable insist they place it outside so the exhaust is outside.

They will insist that HEPA removes everything and is safe. They

remove a lot but not everything and sometimes get loaded and " blow

by. " You don't want what is in the ducts to now be in your living

space.

Will they be cleaning to any industry standards or their own? Ask

about NADCA and ACCA standards (www.nadca.com and www.acca.org).

Will they be spraying, fogging or wiping the ducts with a chemical

cleaner, anti-microbial or sealant? They shouldn't.

Will they be checking the underside of the A/C coils to see if

they need cleaning? Often only the top side (which will be clean)

is checked.

There are other possible issues and questions but let's start

here.

Carl Grimes

Healthy Habitats LLC

-----

On Wed Jul 15 15:38:02 CDT 2009, amybreau <abreau4@...>

wrote:

> Hi,

>

> I joined this group a couple years back to help my Mom, who has

> MCS, and now I'm looking for tips for myself.

>

> I've had hives on my arms and legs for over a month. I recently

> figured out that the office in our house seems to be the

> trigger--we had some water intrusion into a wall, which we fixed,

> but I'm guessing that the horizontal duct that goes to the cold

> air return in that room has mold growing in it now. I've become

> really sensitized to whatever is in there--we haven't even used

> the A/C all summer, so it's just whatever air breathes in and out

> of the vents that is enough to give me hives. Pretty sure this

> is the cause--I also had eczema on my face all winter heating

> season and it decreased when I only used the office when the heat

> wasn't running.

>

> Anyway, I've found a very reputable duct cleaning company who

> seals off all the vents in the house and uses a whip to loosen

> anything in the vents, to suck into a high powered vacuum. I

> plan to go out while they're doing the work, and have the windows

> opened up for some time before I come back. Is there anything

> else I can do to minimize my exposure to whatever is in that

> duct? The ducts really need to be cleaned, but I'm scared about

> getting it done because I've become so sensitive. Any

> experiences, good or bad, with a similar situation?

>

> Thanks,

>

> Amy

>

>

[Guest guest]

Amy,

Am no expert. But if your ducting is made with a combination of metal and

flexline you should be okay. But, if you have any fiberglass ductwork, the high

pressure from the vacuum can pull the fibers loose and thereby cause even more

problems for you. You'll also want to make sure that there are no leaks caused

by any high pressure vacuum treatments. In other words can this company make

sure to check the integrety of the ducting before and after the work.

Also, as Carl Grimes has stated (please correct me Carl, if I get this wrong or

incomplete) you should check out the references and years of experience of this

company and he also recommends that the company be members of the  NADCA, the

National Air Duct Cleaners Association. As your Mom has mcs issues, you should

check and see if they intend to use any biocides. I think there are some that

are fairly non-toxic, but you'd still need to check them out, get msds sheets

and maybe check with your doc.

Hope this is helpful,

Sam

Hi,

I joined this group a couple years back to help my Mom, who has MCS, and now I'm

looking for tips for myself.

[Guest guest]

I wonder if the air duct needs to be totally dustless, white after a white towel

test?

I have tried to use a cotton tip, it turns to black after touching the inside of

the duct. I just got someone to clean the blower and coil, this is after the air

duct was cleaned last year( but not the coil and blower ).

hope

[Guest guest]

I have a combination of metal ducts with also parts that are wood. The wood is

rough, and unpainted and unfinished so they will never be totally dust free. I

would imagine that after a pressure blower with a pressure much greater than the

blower motor of your heating system is used then you should be good. After all

if the blower used to clean take a wind through system much greater than your

system will ever, everything that stays behind should remain behind forever.

The only thing is if there is mold anywhere, in my case, in wood parts, they

could be emiting spores or mycos but I have dish tested my ducts and they come

out well. I don't think there has been any water damage to these interior wood

pieces, but blower has to more powerful than blower on your system. I don't

know how much more powerful. Perhaps too much power could do some damage to

something. I know when mine were cleaned about six years ago, dust blew out of

seams of ducts in basement that were not sealed. One of them I was standing

under and got some dust blown right down on me, so you have to go through all

the necessities yourself first unfortunately. Now I would make sure all ducts

are sealed with duct tape myself. I didn't know about outdoor thing. Truck

that was doing the blowing was outdoor, but the bag they caught it in was inside

and had a hole in it, someone was holding by hand but not effectively. Then the

dust coming out of the ducts. It was a mess and company was considered a

quality cleaning company but not specializing in duct cleaning but were drapery

cleaners and drapery makers really. Developed a quality name but their duct

cleaning was terrible!!!!

>

> I wonder if the air duct needs to be totally dustless, white after a white

towel test?

> I have tried to use a cotton tip, it turns to black after touching the inside

of the duct. I just got someone to clean the blower and coil, this is after the

air duct was cleaned last year( but not the coil and blower ).

>

> hope

[Guest guest]

Thanks, everyone, for the helpful replies. I know the vacuum is truck-mounted

and they only offer the biocide as an add-on (which I don't want). The website

mentions NADCA but I'll double check that they clean to those standards, and ask

about the A/C coils and integrity of the system before and after, including

taping all the seams in the basement.

Let me know if you think of anything else. I'll post how it goes--hoping to get

it done next week.

Amy

[Guest guest]

Just wanted to let everyone know the duct cleaning went well. The guys who did

it were extraordinarily thorough and really took seriously the need to minimize

any dust getting into our living space.

I was a little itchier the day after the cleaning when the vents were still

open, but I taped over the vents again with foil and am back to where I was

before.

So I'm glad to have it done, but clearly need to move on to the next

phase--having our AC coil checked and getting the basement professionally

cleaned after all the work is done.

Thanks to everyone! If you're in NE Ohio and need a rec for a duct cleaner, let

me know.

Amy